


I Do Differently

by Hyx_Sydin



Series: Trope Bingo [7]
Category: Eureka (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Community: trope_bingo, M/M, Trope Bingo Round 9
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-22 20:45:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11388054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyx_Sydin/pseuds/Hyx_Sydin
Summary: A glimpse of the future, and the changes made because of it, has unexpected results.





	I Do Differently

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tarlan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/gifts).



> Hi Tarlan, I know you asked that Jack be the focus and I apologise for totally failing; I hope that you can still enjoy the fic. But if not, I will write you a different one.
> 
> A huge thank you to my beta, [Spikedluv](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Spikedluv/pseuds/Spikedluv). I am no longer ashamed to have my name associated with this fic.
> 
> Italicised dialogue is taken from the show.
> 
> Written for the _Fork in the Road_ square of my [Trope Bingo Round 9](https://trope-bingo.dreamwidth.org/203194.html) card.

_”I’ll see you around, Jack.”_

Nathan blinks his eyes open and stares at his sunlit ceiling, peripherally aware that he has slept through his alarm. In his mind’s eye he can still see himself frozen in time smiling at the Sheriff, can still feel the phantom pain of Jack’s injuries and the way his heart had constricted as he noticed that Stark was gone. Without being aware of it, Nathan slips into the Sheriff’s thoughts as Jack realises that he would have to break the news to Allison, would have to tell her that he had failed in his duty to protect the residents of Eureka, had failed her in allowing Nathan to step into that chamber. 

His ringing phone breaks him from the Sheriff’s thoughts. “Stark.”

“Nathan.” It was Allison, but lacking the warmth and love from his dream. How had they gone from this cold indifference to marriage in just two years? “Where are you? I have questions about Carl Carlson’s reassignment.”

Nathan sits up as her words remind him of the previous day’s events and how he had spent the rest of the night working on a cover story for the scientist’s disappearance. “Any information regarding his reassignment is classified, Ali. All I can tell you is that he’s continuing his work into molecular regeneration in a more secure location.”

“Fine,” she says. “Then maybe you can explain to me how Carter is completely healed?”

He finds himself wondering about Carter’s injuries from his dream and how no one besides his daughter had even seemed to notice them. After everything he’s done for them, all the times he’s put himself in danger to protect them, none of them notices when he walks around bruised and battered, not even Allison. Remembers sitting in the shower with several broken bones, lacerations and contusions and feeling completely helpless on his fifth run-through of the day, wondering if he’d ever be able to fix this problem and save Eureka.

“Nathan!” By the irritated tone of her voice he figures it’s not the first time she’s tried to get his attention. 

“Sorry, Ali, but you don’t have the necessary clearance.” 

When she speaks again it's through gritted teeth. “Goodbye, Nathan.”

He should prepare for the day and head to GD, it's already hours after he would normally start, but the dream haunts him. If it even was a dream… it just felt so real; Carter's thoughts and emotions his own in a way his own thoughts and emotions wouldn't be given the situations he's found himself in. Why would his brain even conjure up a dream like that? So far from his normal dreams about having Allison, so completely different from his normal dreams of world domination. So if it wasn't a dream, what was it? A vision of the future? And if so, where had it come from?

He growls as his phone rings again, the display revealing that it is Fargo. “What?” 

“Sorry, Sir,” his assistant says, stumbling over his words, “but General Mansfield demands to speak to you.”

“I'll be there soon.” Tossing his phone to one side Nathan stretches as he stands, going over his mental list of things he needs to double check in order to ensure that no one finds out what really happened to Carl Carlson, or just how Sheriff Carter managed to survive a fully powered energy blast to the chest.

\---

After most of GD’s staff has left for the day, and he has tossed his tie aside, Nathan rewatches the moment when Carl Carlson disappeared into the Artifact. It was on his third replay that the thought occurred to him that perhaps something that was essentially older than their known universe could pass on a glimpse into the future.

Stopping the security video, he restarts it in slow motion, eyes glued to the other scientist as he kneels down beside the Sheriff and heals him. It wasn't until he watches Carter grip his hand that Nathan sees something he had missed the day before; Carter’s eyes flash gold for a fraction of a second as their hands meet. Clicking back through the video he watches that moment again; his hand in Carter’s, one of Carlson’s hands resting in the Sheriff’s hair while the other is still flat against the door separating them from the Artifact, the power of the object flowing through them… but if Carter's eyes flashed, did that mean he was channeling the Artifact’s power to show Nathan how he would die? And if so, why? 

Nathan leaves the video to play on a loop as he leans back in his seat, wondering what his next step should be. He needs something to prove to himself that it really had been a vision of the future and not a product of his overactive imagination. And he knows just the thing; Leo Weinbrenner’s research into bending time.

\---

“Doctor Weinbrenner, so good of you to join me.”

The other man shifts in his seat uncomfortably, “Your email said it was important, Sir?”

Nathan watches the obviously nervous man for a moment before speaking, “Are you working on anything at the moment?”

“N-no, Sir.” Weinbrenner clears his throat, eyes darting between Nathan's and the folder open in front of him.

“So you're not working on any personal projects then?”

Weinbrenner clears his throat again as he shifts, “None, S-sir.”

“Excellent,” Nathan says, clapping his hands together. “I want you to join the team designing Eureka’s new nuclear clock. All of the relevant information is in this folder.” He holds said folder out to the man. “Fargo!”

His assistant comes running into his office. “Yes Sir?”

Nathan makes a shooing motion with his now free hand, “Take Weinbrenner down to Monroe.”

“Yes, Sir!” Fargo says, and Nathan wonders if the twitch of his right hand was an aborted salute. 

“Thank you so much, Sir! This is truly an honour. I-”

Latching onto the temporal physicist’s sleeve, Fargo tugs him out of the office. “Come on! We've taken up enough of Doctor Stark’s precious time...”

Nathan waits a full five minutes after they've stepped into the elevator, giving the appearance of a man hard at work, before heading down to the Time Maintenance Lab. Once there he secures the door before overriding Weinbrenner’s computer's security, and accesses all of his files. 

After a bit of searching he finds it, a folder containing all of Weinbrenner’s research into ultra indigo and bending time. After making a copy for himself to peruse at his leisure, and installing a backdoor into Weinbrenner’s profile, Nathan logs out leaving no trace he had been there and returns to his office.

His ‘dream’ might have been from Carter’s perspective, but it had still been his mind, and he remembered every detail, including the formula Weinbrenner had taught the Sheriff to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

He would go through the research, and if it paralleled what he'd dreamt, he would know that it was no mere dream but a portent of his death.

\---

To be thorough he goes through Weinbrenner’s research twice, and is contemplating going through it a third time just to be sure, because he has come up with the same conclusion each time. That if allowed to take place, the experiment would always result in a time loop and someone would have to sacrifice themself in order to resync time. 

Nathan stands from his desk, the report he'd been reading on the Artifact not enough to distract him from his thoughts, to stare out at the atrium. Did the Artifact show him the future because Weinbrenner’s experiment has an unknown effect on time? Or did Carter show him the future in order for him to save himself?

At this moment in time they were barely more than strangers, whereas in that future they knew enough about each other for there to be respect and playful banter and yes, even jealousy that Nathan had won Allison. And was that all it was; a competition to see which one of them she would choose? Could it even be a competition if all Allison had ever wanted with Carter was friendship? Was that why Carter wanted to save him, for Allison?

Nathan was faced with a choice; allow Weinbrenner to continue his research but work on a solution so that neither one of them has to die, or take steps to change everything wrong about that future; Weinbrenner’s work which could destabilise the timeline, Eva Thorne’s presence at GD and her shady ulterior motives, and of course his own death. 

A loud noise from the atrium breaks him from his thoughts and he glances up in time to watch as Allison helps Carter disentangle himself from a chair. As soon as the Sheriff is back on his feet Allison bursts out laughing, eyes dancing with amusement, and looking more beautiful than the first day he had met her. Nathan finds that the decision is not that difficult to make.

\---

2 Years Later

_“Love is timeless. Transcending everything we know, everything we understand and giving us strength and comfort forever. What is past is now present, and what is present will become your future. That is what love is; neverending. Now, before you share your vows. If there is anyone here who knows why these two should not be joined together, speak now or forever hold your piece.”_

As Henry waits to see if anyone will speak up, Nathan squeezes the hands he holds and smiles when happy blue eyes meet his. If anyone were to ask him how he ended up marrying Jack and not Allison he wouldn't know how to answer. Somewhere along the line of them working together to solve the town’s problems they became friends. It helped of course that instead of treating the Sheriff as a rival for Allison’s affection, having learnt from the vision that all she ever felt for him was friendship, Nathan had treated the man with the respect and courtesy that was due to him. And somehow that friendship had turned into the kind of love Nathan had only dreamt of finding.

He has never once regretted the decision made, nor the subsequent actions taken, in the wake of that vision. Weinbrenner’s research, as well as several others that would have been deemed too dangerous by certain people, was the unfortunate casualty of a nasty computer virus that had swept through Eureka. And Eva Thorne had never been sent to GD after the changes Nathan had brought about, not only to increase GD’s profits to satisfy the Department of Defense but also to ensure the continued safety of everyone living and working in Eureka. 

A quick nudge of a foot on his ankle and the whisper of his name rouses him from his contemplation of the past two years, and he looks up into two pairs of concerned eyes. He smiles apologetically at Henry, then tugs Jack to him, wraps his arms around his lower back, and nuzzles his cheek. “Jack, I will always love you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is always welcome, and thanks for the read!


End file.
